Thu Mar 12 2009

Australia's Human Rights Commissioner, Graeme Innes, said the practice was occurring on a small scale and people should be aware it was unlawful for employers to discriminate on the basis of a worker's genetic make-up, except in rare circumstances.

About 500,000 applications were received each year for insurance, about 400 of which were from people who had had genetic tests. Only 2 per cent of these, or eight cases, had been declined on the basis of a genetic test alone, Mr Gilbert said.